Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccines to Arrive in Israel in Weeks

Chezy Levy, the director-general of the Health Ministry, announced on Thursday that the country might start receiving the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer in the coming few weeks. 

While having a video meeting with hospital administrators from across the country, he shared that nearly four million doses are set to arrive soon. In his opinion, these will be enough to vaccinate almost two million people initially. 

However, he reminded them that before the vaccines could enter the country of Israel, they would first have to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Thus, no one will be permitted to get inoculated before the authority grants approval. 

Currently, Israel is seeing another spike in infections on a daily basis. Hence, the arrival of a coronavirus vaccine came as happy and celebratory news for the citizens of the country. 

On the other hand, the officials from the Health Ministry are waiting for the coronavirus cabinet to convene so that they can go ahead and discuss ways to curb the infection. On Thursday, it had been ten days since the cabinet had convened. 

It is no secret that there have been tensions between Benny Gantz, the Alternate Prime Minister, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister. Thus, the latter decided to hold a closed-door meeting on this particular subject, which would consist of only a few people. 

On Thursday evening, the Prime Minister gathered with Yuli Edelstein, the Health Minister, Levy, Meir Ben-Shabbat, the National Security Advisor, Prof Nachman Ash, the coronavirus commissioner, and a couple of other senior officials. The coronavirus cabinet, on the other hand, is set to convene in the following week. 

On Thursday, Edelstein addressed the attendees who had shown up at the cornerstone laying ceremony, held to celebrate a newly constructed emergency medicine unit at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. He stated that the government of the country has every right to wage political struggles. But, he requested that these struggles be kept aside so that the healthcare system could be prioritized. 

He requested political entities to pay attention to the key issues at hand. Edelstein also reminded that a difficult period will have to be faced if the entire population wants to be vaccinated. 

Meanwhile, Netanyahu also spoke at the same event and praised the country’s efforts against the virus. He commended Israel against the backdrop of health experts warning that the third wave of the coronavirus is on the horizon. 

The Prime Minister said that the country was able to identify the danger in due time and take responsible steps. In his opinion, the efficient and immediate steps that they took helped in curbing morbidity. 

He went on to add that a lot of lives were saved and the government tried to bring a balance between economy and health. Netanyahu reminded people that the cases had continued to decline up until the economy was reopened. Since then, the number of people who have contracted the virus has only readily increased.